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Friday 6 April 2018

Coping with a mental disorder


"The last thing I needed was an accident, since I hadn't bothered to change out of my pyjama bottoms and slippers"...Within the first few pages of The Long Road it soon becomes clear that something is not quite right with Hank Galloway, and when he meets with his friend Tom he tries to convince Tom that his neighbour is out to kill him. Luckily Hank is persuaded that he needs to visit a doctor in order to address this unexplained "paranoia" resulting in illusions and panic attacks. This is certainly not a book that I would normally read but I was intrigued about the subject matter and how the author would present a seemingly ordinary person suffering a mental breakdown.

This novel is about one man's aspirations, his hopes and dreams for the future and how such desires and ambitions are that much harder to attain when schizophrenia and depression are diagnosed...."There was that word again. Illness! How I hated it! It was up there with "disease" and "condition" two other words I'd heard that described mental disorders."....  Daniel Oliver, quite rightly, explains observes and shows how society and family react to someone with a mental illness, and how even in the toughest situations our dreams and needs for the future can still be achieved.....all it takes is a belief in one self. Many thanks to the good people of netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

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